Spanderverse: After 314
by harsens-rob
Summary: Story One: Riley returns to the Initiative on a search and rescue operation: Note: Contains adult language & violence. Read responsibly. Next Story: Spanderverse: Spike
1. Riley Leaves Buffy's House

Disclaimer: Legal stuff, don't own characters, haven't made any money, this is for entertainment purposes,

not profit, lawyers go away. _kisses_

Pairings: None.

Spoiler Alert: Some details of Primeval.

Notes: Second story in the Spanderverse-universe, following "To Dream". Everything from the television series through the defeat of Adam also occurred as depicted, in the Spanderverse.

I sometimes switch POV during the story; this will be preceded by a string of 'oooooooooooooo' since I've had trouble with finding anything else that formats correctly when uploaded to In addition there are people's thoughts, which are depicted in _italics_. You'll find emphasis depicted with an underline.

More Notes: BIG thanks to Joss, the ME creative team and the crew of one of the best shows on television.

WE MISS YOU!

Finally: Yes you may re-post, but I'm not sure why that would be needed. Just let me know where, please. Yes, you may send feedback to sing my praises or damn my complete lack of talent. I'm a big boy, I can take it. For online script reference I want to thank **twiztv** and for general help to refresh my memory, thanks to **Buffyguide** on the web. I also owe thanks to the Department of Defense (defenselink.mil) for showing me what a Lieutenant Colonel wears on his uniform (chapter 5).

Finally, thanks to the authors of Fanfiction wherever you may post. It's probable that I've read at least one of your stories somewhere. I apologize for recycling concepts inadvertently from the plentitude of stories I've read.

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**Spanderverse: After 314**

**Chapter 1: Riley Leaves Buffy's House**

**Riley awoke on a not so comfortable cot on the local Sunnydale army base with a kink in his back and the beginnings of a headache. He sighed to himself, knowing he could just have easily stayed with Buffy the night before watching movies and generally hanging out. Instead he tried to play the hero, rushing over to the base where he was now. His plan had been to contact Washington, D.C. then grab a squad of able bodied, and heavily armored, soldiers and storm the Initiative.**

**That wasn't the way it turned out. Although Riley wasn't exactly in trouble (_least not yet anyway_) with the brass, they also weren't much in a listening mood after his AWOL from the holding cell that Col. McNamara had held him in. **

**It took him a full thirty minutes before they were willing to listen while Riley sketched out everything that had happened in the final assault on Maggie Walsh's brainchild, Adam. **

**After Riley had managed to lay out the basics over their insistent questioning for details, he had expected the posse to round up and storm the monster's den. As Riley thought he had made clear, there were plenty of places that clever people or the well trained could find to duck out of sight until help arrived. There was also the matter of stopping all of the demons they had managed to cage that were even now looking for ways to return to the general population. That didn't happen.**

**Instead it was the usual Washington bureaucratic red tape. _It was amazing that America's military got to be the best in the world with all the civilian crap they had to wade through to get anything done_, Riley had thought at the time. There was a hasty meeting of the minds on the other end of the video link where the U.S.'s National Security Advisor sat in front of some expensive looking paneling looking harried. The decision was to wake the President and inform him that they'd have to send in the local army boys. There was too little time to assemble the Meta-black Ops Troops (the M.b.O.T., or M-Bots, of course) and Riley's own former team had been mostly decimated below U.C. Sunnydale's campus. It was going to take clearances being issued to the base commander and whatever combat group he wanted to send in. Washington had made it clear they wanted the number of personnel, even army personnel, who knew about the realities of the HST threat to be minimal.**

**By the time they switched off, Riley was thinking his tactical group would be twenty men or so. The group would include Graham, Mason and Kirk from the original Initiative contingent that managed to follow the Scoobies out of the facility. There was some question of Riley joining in the operation, which he expected. In fact, he was resigned to the fact he may be placed in custody until the operation was finished. It was with shock that he instead accepted a promotion to Lt. Col. and made the taskforce commander, apparently at the President's personal insistence.**

**After that, Riley caught an hour and a half of sleep. When a Private came to the room they had set up the cot in, he'd been summoned to the base commander's office. Now going on four o'clock in the morning, the commander looked as strung out as Riley was starting to feel. The adrenaline rush of the battle against Adam and his demonoids had worn off long ago and Riley felt he could sleep for a few days.**

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**Colonel Jacobs was not one of those military commanders who had actually been in combat, nor had he actually ever had to plan out a tactical mission. He mostly got to where he was by judicious use of "office politics", knowing how to schmooze the right people. Not that he wasn't a perfectly competent soldier; he had taken to military life like a duck to water. It was just that during his way up the ranks he had been stationed in places like Germany, Japan, and even a radar monitoring station in Alaska. Not places that screamed 'war-zone' by any stretch. **

**Now here he was, half empty mug of strong coffee, staring over his desk at someone who'd gone AWOL and been given a promotion for it. Not only that, he was being asked to come up with a special operations combat plan using non-special ops troops and against a threat which could only be described as 'demonic'. The entire world view for Jacobs had changed in the past few hours as he had been completely briefed on demons, vampires and werewolves. A special young girl known as the Slayer and what she had managed to uncover less than 4 miles away under the college campus. The whole 314 project, what its goals were and how they had been perverted by an egghead with too much ambition and her (_well, let's just call it like it is_) Frankenstein's Monster-like creation (_with modern firepower in its reach! She must have been nuts!_). **

**He was just a small time base commander trying to save on the budget so his command wouldn't be closed on the next review in D.C. This entire thing was so fanciful, so utterly movie-esque that several times that night he was told to close his jaw before it hit the floor by the big muckity-mucks briefing him from the Capitol.**

**After the briefing he'd had to sit by himself in the office with his lights turned off. It was his best way of thinking, quiet and dark, and resign himself to the fact that this wasn't a wild practical joke. There were demons… real life monsters that were not human but could walk and talk like men, even if they didn't look like them. There were vampires, like Bela's Dracula, who blood-sucked from the living and occasionally turned their victims into more vampires. **

**_How could people… how could I grow up in a world with all this and not know it? How could it be possible that the average newscast wasn't beaming images of police taking tentacled man-beasts into custody, at least occasionally, or images of an army of vamps fighting off the troops somewhere in the world?_**

**And so the questions went, running around and around in his mind for forty-five minutes, before he could make them stop and focus on the task at hand. He had given the Lt. Col. a brief and perfunctory salute when the kid (he looked all of 20, even with his build) arrived and had him sit down. Now he had to figure out how exactly to utilize him. He briefly wondered if he'd look like a weak commander if he just asked Riley what plan of attack he wanted to use, and what equipment and personnel he'd need.**

"**So, I'm assuming you know I've been talking to Washington." Col. Jacobs thought that a nice, simple start would be best.**

"**Yes, sir. I'm sure that it's a lot to take in. I mean, I'm guessing they briefed you fully on what was happening in the Initiative labs."**

"**Yeah, they told me alright. I'm still not sure I can make myself believe it though. I mean, demons… from an actual, literal, very solidly real, Hell? It's like entering Alice's mirror and finding out that rabbit's really can talk. What next? Was Scooby-Doo a real canine-detective with his wacky human sidekicks?"**

**Riley had stayed silent, but a small smile was on his face. He didn't envy this man before him. Riley himself was so gradually given the information on the HSTs that by the time he went on his first tour of the facility and saw his first demon, they weren't anything to him but an exotic animal. _They never stopped just being that either to Forrest. Maybe that's why in the end, Adam could kill him. Maybe denial and ignorance are their true weapons. _Riley cut off his own thoughts. This wasn't the time to deal with grief. The mission was what mattered.**

"**Let me be blunt with you Lt. Col.", Jacobs said (and Riley imagined he heard the sneer when the man used his shiny-brand-spanking-new rank), "I am way out of my league." The flashes of brashness Riley saw when he sat down evaporated. **

**Suddenly this man in front of him looked exactly like what he was: A small base commander who had been given a world-view shattering bit of news and told to perform a mission that only happened in the horror movies. **

"**I'd really like it if you just gave me a list of what you need, and then plan out your mission and go. You can give me a full report when you get back. We both know you're the only one of us that actually has experience with what was going on in that facility and my trying to be the big man-in-charge-here is only going to get your team killed. I know it, you know it, and probably Washington knows it. I don't want rank and command protocol and the usual "this is the way the Army does things" bull to get in the way. If even a third of what I was briefed on is the God's Gospel, then ego, mine or yours, just doesn't belong in this mission."**

**Riley felt his esteem for Col. Randall Jacobs take a huge leap in the polls. This is what Riley had feared since he had been summoned to the office. He was racking his brain trying to figure out how he could tell someone who outranked him how to butt out without being in more trouble than he was. Riley wasn't under the illusion that there was no one in Washington who wasn't sore about his not being shipped straight to Leavenworth, or wherever, for leaving his squad against orders. He was hoping that this man wasn't going to make the mission nearly impossible to execute properly by standing on ceremony and basically treating him like the deserter he could reasonably be called.**

**Riley realized that despite his hopes, he actually had been expecting that very scenario. The fact that the Colonel himself was the one to broach and diffuse the topic made Riley respect the man. _He gets it, _Riley thought, _he may not have been a gung-ho combat guy, but he gets that it's about the mission first and foremost. Everything else can wait._**

**Colonel Jacobs had pulled out several manila folders from a file cabinet and placed them in front of Riley. Each had a simple label: "Personnel" read one; another was "Light Weaponry", and still a third read, "Garaged Vehicles". Riley flipped through the folders, seeing that there were about a dozen of them.**

"**I had these simple lists drawn up for you. They represent all of the talent and equipment that we have stored on the base. Anything you need from those lists is yours. There's nothing there you wouldn't be familiar with, we don't exactly have an exotic materials lab hiding out in an outbuilding. And... I'm relatively sure that there isn't a secret underground facility here. Oh, and if there is and you know about it, don't tell me. I don't want to know."**

**Riley smiled at him now. His best "aw shucks, mister" grin as his mother called it. "No sir, as far as I'm aware, there's no secret facility under our feet. If I may say so Colonel, your making this a lot easier then I could have expected. I know you've been made aware that I was in custody and went AWOL from the Initiative." Actually, Riley considered, he didn't really have any way of knowing that at all. Not for sure anyway, but he felt it was probably true and Jacobs didn't look surprised or about to correct him on it.**

"**Take an hour to go over the personnel files. Let me know who you want. We're basically going to put you, Graham, and uh…" Jacobs looked at a small sheet of paper on his desk, "…this Kirk guy in charge of three units with you in lead. Each unit will have eight men and we'll have six hummers at your disposal. If you want a substitution or additional vehicles, and it's on the list, I'll give it to you."**

"**Thank you, sir." Riley said as he stood up.**

**Colonel Jacobs continued as he shook Riley's hand, "Its going on six now. I'm thinking an hour for you to pull the men you want, maybe two for the equipment you want. Two hours for you to catch more sleep, pardon me, but you really look like hell, while we brief the men your taking out with you. Let's see, loading up, prep and travel to the campus. I'm thinking by noon you should be hitting the facility. Sound good?"**

"**Sounds about feasible, maybe I can shave some time off that by not being too picky over the equipment and weapons lists. The more time that we wait, the more time we give for the critters (_saying demons just sounds ridiculous still)_ to find a way out."**

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**Now he was headed to meet his new team. Young men, here for the life experience. Or the college scholarship fund, or just to give them something to do. They weren't hardened soldiers. They weren't special ops members. They sure weren't experienced in the type of opponents they were going in to battle. Riley was worried he was going to lose a lot of good people on this mission, like he lost a lot of comrades already. When he had gone through the personnel folders to build his strike teams, he tried to concentrate on older and more experienced soldiers but they were few and far between on a base as small as Sunnydale's. A lot of young kids, barely out of their teens were going to be going into battle and Riley didn't like it.**

**He wiped these thoughts from showing on his face though. He was on his way to what he thought of as the 'pep-rally before the tour of hell'. The men he'd chosen would all have been briefed about what they'd be going into and what the primary mission was by now. **

**Basically, Riley intended to treat this as a search and rescue mission. He'd have a standing shoot-to-kill order for any non-human looking residents throughout the Initiative. Each soldier, including Riley, would have a large cross painted over his body armor. He'd had the base chaplain bless holy water and the paint itself, just as insurance. There were some raised eyebrows when Riley had a cross "drawn" with holy water on the back and front of each pair of body armor, and then overlain with a white painted cross as well. Riley knew very well that there were plenty of (_just get used to saying it, soldier_) demons like Hostile 17. They may look human and they could act human, but Riley was willing to bet they wouldn't run up for "help" if there was a sea of crosses in their eyesight. That was what most worried him right now, that these kids wouldn't take the threat of a vampire seriously and would let them walk right up to them before they "fanged-out" and took the kids by surprise. Riley was hoping the armor decorations would counter that. He was also worried about genuine humans being shot on accident by nervous and inexperienced soldiers. To counter that, he'd instruct that any 'humans' seeking help had to deal only with himself, Graham, Kirk or Mason. They'd force the humans to touch the holy symbol on their armor before giving any assistance. If the people they were going to rescue had any sense, they'd cooperate quickly enough, no matter how silly they thought it sounded.**

**Riley reached the meeting room and pulled the door open. Standing off to the right were Graham, who nodded to him, and Kirk and Mason. There was a round of saluting and an introduction by Col. Jacobs who was on the far left of the room. Then Riley spoke for fifteen minutes, trying to get it into the half pale, half smirking faces in front of him that this wasn't a movie. The threat was extremely real and if they didn't follow orders and do exactly as they were being instructed they would die.**

**He knew he sounded a little more brusque then needed, but his only thought was that enough good people, some friends, had already died. The chaplain said a quick prayer for them, asking God to rest a protective hand on their shoulders and then they were out the door and loading up in the humvees.**

**Behind the six vehicles carrying the soldiers was four medical transports with first aid personnel to help any soldiers injured and to take care of survivors. The convoy started up their engines and began the short drive over to the campus. Riley wondered idly how in the hell the folks in Washington, and no doubt Jacobs, were going to cover this up.**

**END CH. ONE**


	2. Return to the Initiative

Spanderverse: After 314

Chapter 2: Return to the Initiative

POV: Riley Finn, mostly. A little Graham and various soldiers.

**Riley sat in the lead humvee as their convoy crossed through town toward the dorm that had been his temporary home. He hadn't always been a soldier there. Sometimes he was just Riley Finn, PA to the psychology professor, Dr. Maggie Walsh. It seemed like another life time. Maybe it was, maybe it was from a life when he could still be naïve and believe whole-heartedly in his government and the integrity of the people supporting and directing him in his fight to stop the HSTs from snacking on the populace. **

**Those days were long gone now, though. He'd discovered that Maggie, the woman he respected more than anyone in the Initiative, even Graham and Forrest, wasn't what she had appeared to be. Oh, she was human, but sometimes they made the most vicious monsters.**

**Riley's thoughts hop scotched across the last few months. Discovering Buffy's special abilities was one of the most amazing things he'd come across yet. That this petite girl with the gorgeous smile could go toe to toe with anything Riley himself had fought was nothing less then amazing. The fact that she was excited to join his team, fighting side by side with him made him happier then he'd ever been. He wondered what his mother would think of her.**

**But then dreams tended to get shattered, and his did. It turned out that not only was Dr. Walsh creating a hodgepodge monster, not only was she experimenting on Riley himself, but she had tried to trick Buffy into getting killed. Seeing her stammering out that Buffy was dead, as sympathetic as she could manage, seeing her concern for him in her eyes and then to find out it was all a lie she had set up herself was almost more than he could take. **

**He'd stomped away from her after that and hadn't spoken to her again. He couldn't even imagine how Dr. Walsh thought she was going to explain it away while she was calling out to him. He'd never hit a woman, except in practice hand-to-hand with fellow soldiers, but he could have belted her at that moment. For just a split second, he'd wanted to see the look on her face after his fist crashed into her jaw. Mrs. Finn raised him right though, so he'd just gotten away from her as fast as he could without running.**

**The humvees pulled into the dorm parking lot, gathering stares all the way. Riley shook the thoughts of Maggie and his hurt over her betrayal away. Like his grief for Forrest, it would need to wait.**

**There were mouths hanging open all around them as they leaped from the vehicles in full combat gear. The medical transports were already unloading personnel and stretchers. He could hear medics giving orders to other medics and orderlies so they'd be prepared for any trauma that was about to come out of the dorm doors. **

**In the meantime, Riley was having some of the greener looking troops evacuate all the floors of the dorm. He'd leave them to block access and to guard their rears as they exited from below, in case any monsters were chasing them as they escorted the survivors (and he still expected, no demanded that there would be survivors) out. The instruction to the college kids was simple, this was a matter of national security and they were to exit without delay. They'd be kept out of the building until such time as they, Riley's troops, allowed them back in. There'd be no wasting of time answering questions, or responding to indignant protests. Anyone trying to obstruct them in any way for any length of time would be placed in military custody and turned over to the F.B.I. (that part being a lie, but it seemed a good touch) for investigation. Sunnydale was pretty generous with the admission grants (_gee, kinda obvious why in hindsight_) and the threat of the F.B.I.'s involvement would probably scare the foreign students into complying without a fuss.**

**As the evacuation was going on, local law enforcement arrived to take over crowd control. Riley wanted to ask what they'd been told, but it wasn't worth wasting the time trying to figure out a way to bring it up naturally that wouldn't tip his hand that he didn't know what the cover story was going to be. When he left the base, Colonel Jacobs was on the phone debating cover stories with some spook in D.C. _Probably was someone in the F.B.I., actually_, it occurred to Riley.**

**Leaving two men and/or women behind from each team gave Riley eighteen soldiers to investigate the labs below their feet. He led the group single file down the dorm hallway to the wall mirror which acted as their elevator entrance. It had been smashed open recently by Buffy when she went into the Initiative after Adam and a double thick length of plywood had been placed over the breach. On the panel was a notice, 'WARNING: Government Property of the United States, No Trespassing, BEWARE: Falling Danger Present. Tampering with this notice is punishable by up to a $20,000 fine and 5 Years Imprisonment', it read.**

**Riley walked to the right side of the plywood while Mason took the left. They pulled hammers from the identical backpacks that everyone on the team wore. Prying the wood from where it had been nailed into the walls, Graham and a boy called Parsons pulled the wood from the opening. They passed it back along the line until it reached the back of it. These were the six that would remain here on the ground floor while the others rappelled down the shaft of the elevator. He'd placed a corporal, Melinda Danners from Seattle in charge of that group. From there, the plywood was manhandled into a corner to wait for their exit from the mission.**

**Riley took a look over the edge with Mason and Graham. He turned back toward the line of soldiers waiting for his order and placed a finger over his lips, signaling them to quiet the chatter they had going. He turned toward Mason who was leaning out over the shaft, listening for sounds of any kind. **

**When Mason stood back from the edge and shook his head 'no', Riley turned to the line of soldiers again. This time they were all silent, waiting for his instructions. **

"**Alright," he said toward them, trying to make eye contact with each. "Is anyone unclear of which team their on?" **

**When he received no response, he went on. "We're going to rappel three at a time. Kirk, Graham and I will go first. The elevator is stuck on the sub-basement floor. We'll go in through the ceiling hatch. You're to wait until you receive an all clear from me. That'll mean we've got the elevator doors pried open if we need to and that we have a defensive position around the car staked out.**

**As each three man team exits the car, they'll form another perimeter in a semi-circle around the car two feet in front of the team before them." He took a deep breath, his mind running through scenarios and floor plans as he spoke again.**

"**My team will head for operations, it's the most heavily fortified and if they got the security doors down, there may be people there. Graham's team will hit medical first, then do a sweep toward the armory. Kirk's team: head off to the left, you'll see a door marked 314 on it. You're to get through that door however you need to. Do a sweep of the inner labs."**

"**Let me make this clear, rescue and escort back up here is our primary goal. But, some of these… creatures, animals, demons, whatever term you're most comfortable with, can look human. You are not, under any circumstances, to approach anyone you find alive until they've been checked by your team lead or Mason. Anything looking non-human is considered hostile and you have authority to shoot to kill. Any vampires, i.e. humans with the bumpy foreheads and fangs can be hurt by your guns, but not killed as you've been briefed. Use water pistols (these were the only special equipment that Riley had insisted upon and they were far more powerful and had a larger reservoir then the toys kids played with). They have holy water in them. It'll act like acid on the creeps. Now let's go, no one is coming out of there less than in one piece… is that clear?"**

**He received a chorus of hearty, but whispered, "yes, sirs". And then he was in the shaft with Kirk and Graham moving downward along their rappelling cables.**

**Kirk reached the bottom a few seconds ahead of Riley and found the door to the elevator slightly ajar. It was enough that he could see if anything was standing right outside the doors. It was clear. No sounds emanated from the cavernous space beyond, which in itself made him nervous. _There should be something… growls, shuffling, moans of the injured, something should be making noise out there_, yet it remained silent. _Like a damn tomb_, he thought to himself.**

**As Riley reached the bottom, Kirk leaned in close, his lips nearly brushing his ear, "Too quiet. Nothing moving."**

**Riley gave a quick nod of his head, then Kirk was kneeling in front of the parted elevator doors as close as he could get without the muzzle of the semi-automatic rifle he carried pointing through. He had a strange look on his face, which Riley thought might be disgust.**

**As Graham made it to the bottom, and he and Riley approached the doorway, Kirk's look became understandable. Carried on the air that was still being automatically circulated by huge blowers hidden in the walls was the smell of death. A smell Riley unfortunately recognized. It was the smell of blood, and entrails, and human waste. Clearly, there were going to be a lot of bodies lying around. He'd known that of course, but somehow he'd been so focused on finding the live ones, that he'd just ignored the death they were about to wade through.**

**He thought again about the young men and women that would soon be following them down. He wished he'd thought to warn them that there were a lot of people dying when he left. They'd probably have had the same reaction as him though, not really giving it too much mind until this smell hit them. He could only hope that they'd keep their minds on the job, like they'd been trained.**

**He tapped Kirk and Graham on the shoulders and nodded toward the door. Immediately they took positions on each side of the doorway and reached their hands through the gap. Finding purchase they strained to open the elevator doors further to allow them to pass while Riley kept his gun ready. If it was a vampire, he'd hit it in the face and give one of the guys time to grab the holy-water to finish it off. As the doors screeched open, making far too much noise for comfort, no beasts assaulted them, however.**

**Once the doors were open, Graham and Kirk readied their own weapons. They glanced back at Riley, who gave a quick nod of his head. Kirk was the first through the door and he took three wide steps to the left and dropped to one knee. His weapon was sweeping the area in front of them, but there remained no movement.**

**Graham was right on the heels of Kirk, but he took three wide steps to the right. Dropping to one of his knees, he assumed an exact copy of the position Kirk was taking. Graham scanned the upper stairways and catwalks, but other than a few bodies, saw nothing.**

**Riley followed his two team members out of the elevator. Walking forward, he stopped a half foot behind his two soldiers. Scanning the area, he also found nothing moving. Although he was appalled at the bodies lying around, easily a dozen or more in his line of sight, he felt nothing. He was in full combat mode now and it would be unlikely he'd 'feel' anything until he was back on the base. He knew tonight there'd be nightmares, but that was for later.**

**He clicked on his shoulder mike, "Team positioned, all quiet. Begin your descents."**

**"Copy that." Mason responded from the floor above. **

**It took twenty-two minutes for the other fifteen soldiers to make it down, and then assume the semi-circle defensive stance Riley had ordered. He considered that pretty good considering the inexperienced team he was dealing with.**

**He was equally impressed when none of the 'kids' under his immediate command became sick. There were quite a few who looked a bit green around the gills, but they were holding it together.**

**Riley gave one last look through the team, tapped Kirk on the shoulder and waved him away. Kirk gave a short, sharp whistle and his team fell in behind him. They moved off toward the 314 labs. As they passed the "operating pit", Kirk pulled up short. His team began firing into the pit for several seconds.**

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**While this was occurring, Graham's team had also moved out. As they were moving into position, Graham had Mason take one 'man' with him and check the catwalks that ran along the upper walls surrounding the Initiative. They led mostly to alternate elevator accesses for the engineers. There were also a few personal offices belonging to support staff and the environmental and engineering monitoring rooms were off a passageway built into the walls up there as well. Graham wasn't expecting survivors, but it seemed like they should check anyway. **

**After Mason had taken Jacqueline Alvarez and departed, Graham led the remaining three members of his team toward the medical bay and physician's office. He glanced back as they proceeded to see Riley's team half way across the huge expanse of the Initiative main floor, headed toward Operations and the small prisoner cells off a hallway nearby. Graham knew Riley had been held back in those cells until just before everything went to hell. Frankly, he was worried about what was going to happen to Finn after this operation. Was he going to stay, maybe rebuild a special unit? He didn't know. He expected, and feared, that he'd leave the military to stay behind with his chick. Ever since he'd gotten involved with blondie, Riley just wasn't thinking like the soldier he'd come up through the ranks with. He didn't like the direction he was taking. **

**Graham wouldn't say any of these things to former-agent Finn, though. He was a quiet guy who kept his own council, but that didn't mean that a lot of stuff wasn't going on under the cool exterior. Graham genuinely respected Riley, but thought that he was acting really whipped lately. He'd seemed to have gotten worse since the Forrest thing and the revelations that they'd all been taking some sort of experimental supplements unknown to them.**

**Graham was a bit pissed at Walsh too. On the other hand, he'd always been pragmatic and whatever she was working on, it had made him a better soldier. His physical fitness tests under the Doctor's command had shown incremental improvements in strength, reflexes and endurance so he could forgive her (_may she rest in peace_) for not telling them about it up front.**

**Graham reached the doorway that would lead to the medical bay. He knew they'd reach the dispensary first and then a series of examination rooms. He didn't expect to find anything in those rooms, but they'd have to be checked.**

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**Riley's team trotted across the expanse of the main section of the Initiative. Behind him he heard a few of his men falter in step as they tried to see what Graham's team had been firing at in the pit. Riley already knew. When he and the Scoobies had run out this same way, he'd looked in the pit to see Dr. Cantelli lying in a pool of blood. Around him were the barbed coils of a Rah-Shansee demon's tentacles. The creature had been dragging him toward the wall of the pit. Even as the gang was racing toward the elevators to get out, the Rah-Shansee was trying to use those tentacles to haul itself out of the pit it was trapped in. It would never make it, he didn't think at the time. The Rah-Shansee topped nine-hundred pounds and they'd had to use a crane to lower it into the surgery bay. It was just assumed that the creature would be coming out in dissected parts. He didn't think it would have the leverage to pull itself up along the wall and he felt a little bit of satisfaction at having been right.**

**After a handful of seconds to give the soldiers a look at what they were going to be facing in living color Riley yelled back at them to keep moving. As he approached the doorway leading to the operation's suite, he saw with relief that someone inside had been able to lower the heavy steel security door. _Someone's alive. At least one person is going to be rescued. It's probably not the Colonel. I think I saw him go down out here, wonder where the body went? It could be Samuelson, maybe Brubacker or Destuvic too._**

**Riley ripped the emergency panel away from the wall. Behind it was a series of wires and circuitry. He studied them carefully, calling up his memorized plans of the layout of the doorway's controls. The panel had been installed shortly after the first vampire had been brought into the facility. The fact that the beast could 'morph' their visage into a human's had upset Dr. Walsh and she'd insisted on extra security precautions to protect operations and that would give them someplace to retreat in case of a containment breach by the hostiles. _She and Doctor A. never got to use it though_, Riley shook his head.**

**The panel was designed to resist tampering with a small explosive charge hidden deep in the wall. It would blow outward, taking out an opponent's face while leaving the bulk of the protection for the room behind intact. Riley was going to have to disconnect and reconnect a series of seven wires in the right order, without accidentally disconnecting any of the other wires or damaging any of the sensitive circuits they attached too. Either action would lead to him being taken back upstairs without his face.**

**After a tense five minutes, the security door slid up out of the way. He tried the office door handle, but it was, of course, locked. He was readying to try to kick it in, despite its reinforced lock, when a young redhead, Private Banks stepped up to him.**

**"'Scuse me, sir. I don't think your gonna be kickin' that there door down. If'n you let me in there for a few, I'm sure I c'n get us in there right quick," he said.**

**A black and heavily built guy, Lemont Washington, said low, "Show him how it's done Pick."**

**Riley glanced back, then looked again at Banks, "Pick?"**

**"Jus' a lil' knick-name from a misspent youth, sir." He had what Riley could only describe as the grin of the cat that ate the canary.**

**Returning the grin, Riley stepped aside with a wry "I'm glad you've decided to use your powers for good."**

**Banks, still grinning, knelt down beside the doorknob. From his boot he pulled a small black and supple leather case. When he opened it up, Riley saw about a half dozen lock picks that were definitely not regulation.**

**Banks glanced up at Riley, "Never leave home wit'out 'em Colonel. Like 'Merican Express. Ya' never know when you'll need 'em."**

**Banks turned back to the doorknob while the rest of the soldiers milled about. Riley himself was keeping one eye on Bank's progress, and the other on the rest of the room. He hadn't seen any demons that weren't already dead and that bothered him. He knew Adam had found a way to get into and out of Maggie's secret lab behind 314, including via the ducts. He wanted to believe that the other demons hadn't also found a way out, but he might be wrong. He'd fully expected the demons to be milling about out here, eating the corpses or fighting among each other… whatever demons did when they weren't busy killing people. They hadn't gotten out through any of the elevator entry points along the shaft. Graham, Kirk and him had checked on their way down.**

**It seemed less then a minute, but may have been all of two when Banks gave a triumphant sound and twisted the door handle open. Riley grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back as he was about to walk in. He didn't want his shot by whoever was still in the control center.**

**"This is Riley Finn," he shouted into the room, "I got soldiers with me. We're going to be coming in to escort survivors to the surface. Don't shoot!"**

**He glanced back at his team. Making sure they had their guns drawn, he led them through the door.**

**END CH. TWO**


	3. Mason's New Recruit

**Spanderverse: After 314**

_Note: I used some adult language in this chapter. Read responsibly. _

_The point of view in this story shifts between Alan Mason & Jacqueline Alvarez. _

**Chapter 3: Mason's New Recruit**

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**Mason and Alvarez climbed the first, short, flight of stairs toward the upper reaches of the Initiative. As they reached the first landing they spotted another body, adding to Mason's mental count. This would be number eight that he and Alvarez had passed. Glancing down, he saw it was a woman… one of the scientists by the way she was dressed. Her name tag read: DANICA. She had two puncture marks clearly visible on her neck with a few trickles of dried blood running toward the floor of the landing she lay upon. Mason glanced at Alvarez to see how the recruit was managing. He was impressed with what he saw, she didn't look the least bit phased by what they had seen, just watchful and cautious.**

**Jacqueline Alvarez joined the military seven short months ago and this was her first "real" mission. She knew when she became an enlisted man that a lot of the dirt-jobs would fall on her shoulders, but this was something else. From the time she had stepped out of the elevator shaft and had seen the bodies strewn around her she had slipped into robot mode. Jacquie was a paramedic before she decided to enter the military and she'd been to more then a few gruesome scenes. She'd found early on that the way to deal was to not deal, so to speak. Everything was on auto-pilot and that way you didn't have to deal with emotional breakdowns, or sick stomachs or jumping nerves. You just shutdown the more human parts of yourself and focused entirely on what you had to do the next second after this one, and the next after that one. One step at a time until it was over and then you could go through the shakes and the barfing.**

**Alvarez looked down at the pale woman before her. She had been pretty, even with the thick dork-glasses she wore. Her brown eyes were half-open, but she wasn't seeing anything anymore. Her dark chestnut brown hair was worn in a bun the way Alvarez used to wear her own hair before she'd just cut it all off. Now Jacquie's hair was more of a helmet that set on her head then an actual hair style.**

**She leaned down toward the body, glancing up the next flight of stairs for hostile activity as she did so. Noting nothing above her, she placed two fingers on the carotid artery of the body. She didn't expect a pulse, it was pretty clear this lady was dead, but habit had her checking for vitals anyway. Feeling nothing but cool skin, as she had expected, she lifted the corpses glasses and thumbed the eyelids closed the rest of the way.**

**As she returned to a standing position, she noticed Mason watching her. _If your looking for me to upchuck, this ain't nothing compared to some of the auto accidents I've picked through_, she thought. Aloud she just said, "Vampire?"**

**Mason shook his head in the affirmative. He quickly kneeled beside the prone form and slipped a holy wafer into her mouth. He then stepped past her body and Alvarez. He mounted the next flight of stairs without a word. As she fell in behind him, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.**

**_Vampires! I suddenly feel like we should be calling in Dr. Van Helsing to take care of this mess._ Jacquie continued to follow Mason up the next flight of stairs. As they reached the top, she saw over his shoulders that there was a catwalk suspended above the floor below and circling around the wall to her right for thirty feet or so.**

**She tried to move quietly, but the catwalk was steel and she couldn't completely silence her footfalls. Mason also appeared to be struggling to keep quiet as they walked toward the first body of two.**

**The man on the floor had his eyes closed and was far more peaceful looking than the lady they just left. He was probably in his 40s with a bit of a paunch around the middle. His hair was dark and slicked back with gel. It was apparent from his uniform that he also wasn't military. He had been a civilian engineer, judging by his grey overalls. His name patch stated that this used to be O'NEILL. Alvarez could see a simple gold band on his left hand and idly wondered what the government would tell his widow.**

**Mason gave her a short nod in the direction of the other body on the walkway. As Alvarez moved past him to check on that corpse, she saw him reaching into his bag of holy wafers again.**

**Alvarez walked in a cautious crouch with her gun ready toward the second corpse. It was lying in a sitting position just outside of a corridor leading deeper into the rock face. She didn't need a superior to tell her that it was possible that this was a set up for an ambush from anything waiting in the corridor.**

**Even being prepared, she nearly lost her head when a heavily furred claw swung at her from the corridor. She barely ducked lower to miss the full swing of the creature, but the top of her head was still hit by a meaty fist and she felt herself flying downward into the steel walkway. Even as she hit the steel grate under her, she was twisting her body to get her rifle pointed at her target.**

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**Mason was just completing the placing of the wafer into the engineer's throat when his peripheral vision caught Alvarez diving into a crouch. Looking up and already raising his gun, he saw her sprawl out onto the walkway. He admired that she was already in a position to fire, when the report of three shots sounded around him. The creature, and he couldn't remember what this one was called, was huge.**

**Easily standing over 7-foot and probably in the neighborhood of 300 pounds, it looked like a shaggy rust-colored behemoth. The three slugs from Alvarez appeared to hit it as it stumbled backward, but then it just roared and began to charge toward her. Mason stood up and released a round of his own at the creature's head, hitting it squarely in the back of its skull. The animal gave a surprised whine and then pitched over right toward the prone form of his fellow soldier.**

**Mason rushed forward to grab the critter before it could tumble on top of her, even knowing he'd never be able to hold its dead weight. He didn't make it far.**

**As he began to pass in front of the corridor, he wasn't paying heed to anything but stopping the demon from falling on the woman struggling to roll out of the way. A heavily booted foot came out of the corridor's entrance, catching Mason full in the face.**

**Mason's gun flew out of his hands as he fell back, it now being his turn to slam into the steel-grated walkway. He felt the air leave his lungs in a mighty 'whoosh' and his face felt broken just before the back of his head slammed against the flooring of the walkway.**

**Mason's viewpoint shrunk in seconds to a pinpoint of pain as the world around him grayed out. He knew he couldn't afford to black out, but the force of the kick to his face and the hardness of the metal meeting his head had him stunned. As he struggled to clear his head, he heard Alvarez scream his name and then an animal growl followed by a nasty laugh.**

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**Jacqueline was lying prone on the floor of the steel walkway watching as a towering shag carpet came falling toward her. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. The towering monster was falling… falling… closer and closer toward her, but he was going so slowly that it didn't seem he'd ever reach her.**

**Jacquie was just as slow, she realized. She was trying desperately to roll her body out of the way of the creature, but she didn't seem to be moving fast enough. In fact, a sudden and bizarre image of the 'Bionic Woman' flashed through her mind. _Here I am, Bionic Soldier, rolling out of the way in slow motion._**

**Alvarez had just stopped herself from laughing hysterically at the image, when time seemed to snap to normal. One second she was rolling toward the wall, the next she was face first into it and there was a tremendous bang behind her. There wasn't room for both her and the monster to lie down though, so her body was still supporting some of the creature's weight, effectively pinning her down.**

**She struggled against the weight, and was craning her head up to tell Mason that she was alright, when she heard a second bang further down the walkway from where she lay gasping.**

**Craning her head with renewed vigor, she saw Mason lying on the floor. Between them stood a man dressed in an orange jumpsuit. She screamed out to Mason then, and the 'man' turned around to reveal it wasn't a man at all. Oh, it looked pretty human, but the face was distorted and its eyes were yellow and menacing. From its open mouth projected two canine fangs and it was doing a weird combination of hissing and laughing at her predicament.**

**As she struggled more violently to get the behemoth's weight off of her, the vampire strode toward her. "Shit!" she yelled, knowing she wasn't doing well at getting unpinned. She looked desperately behind the vampire, but Mason was still struggling to pull himself together after his tumble to the floor.**

**Looking back at the vampire now towering over her, laughing at her, she felt really afraid for the first time since the assignment started. _Mary, mother of God, please grant me an opportunity here. Just give me an opening and I may live through this yet_, she thought.**

**The vampire effortlessly rolled the bugbear on top of her off, then reached down and grabbed her before she could move away. Lifting her by her camo-armor, he laughed again in her face. His breath was fetid and foul. She found herself gagging at it, it was so putrid. He pulled her in even closer, her toes a good two inches off of the ground.**

"**Well, well, little chica. Looks like you got yourself into a mess now, doesn't it? I gotta tell you girlie, I'm pretty full. I don't know if I got enough room left to eat another bite. You look so good though… be a shame to just let you go", this last was followed by a chuckle.**

"**Tell you what, maybe I'll just throw you over the side, huh? See if your big-bad-ass self bounces or not? 'Course I could just eat a bit more maybe, maybe even feed you a bit from me, turn you. What'd you say to that? Would you like to be immortal, little chica? Of course, I'd be your sire… it'd mean doing what I say to do. And you know what, I can come up with a lot of things I'd love to do to a hot, little cunt like you." The sneer on his face made Jacquie want to bash his nose in, but she stayed calm instead.**

**While he was busy 'intimidating' her, Alvarez was pulling a short, but sharply pointed stake out from under her armor. She had taped it to the small of her back after the briefing she had received about the 'demon' she'd be facing. It seemed at the time that if you were actually going to be facing vampires, of all things, you should have a stake handy.**

**Smiling at him now, she said in her most disarming voice, "You know what I really think? That first of all, you need a toothbrush stat. Secondly, that you should EAT THIS YOU SON OF A BITCH!"**

**Jacqueline jabbed savagely with her stake right into the vampire's heart. In shock, he released her and looked down at the wood protruding from his chest. His head came back up and he locked his eyes on Alvarez. His hands came up and wrapped around her throat, but they were already disintegrating, along with the rest of him to dust.**

**Jacquie waved the air in front of her, trying to keep from breathing in the vampire's remains. She looked over at Mason, to see him sitting up again. He looked a bit the worse for wear, but didn't appear to be about to pass out, to her.**

**She quickly grabbed up her rifle and pointed it toward the corridor entrance but it was empty. Returning to the second corpse, she gingerly tugged at the red-haired man's collar looking for the tell tale marks of the vampire. Seeing these, and feeling how cool the man's skin was, she didn't bother looking in vain for a pulse.**

"**We'll need another wafer over here," she called over to Mason.**

"**That was really nice work. I'm glad someone was paying attention in briefing. You may be the only one, our superiors at the base included, who thought a wooden stake might be appropriate," he returned as he struggled up to his feet.**

"**Thanks, sir." Alvarez offered up a silent thank you to Mary as well. It looked like her prayer was answered once again. "You gonna be ok, or should we head back to the exit. Maybe you should return to the surface."**

"**Nah. I'm alright. I've had after-bender mornings that made me feel worse than this."**

**Alvarez had taken up station just inside the corridor by this time. It was a simple tunnel with a large open doorway at the end about twelve or fifteen feet away. "Alright, but if you start feeling wonky, let me know. Don't be a hero just to show up the girl."**

"**I have a feeling it'd take more than ignoring a concussion to show you up. Other than a hell of a headache, I'm ok. No dizziness, no sick to the stomach feelings."**

**Alvarez took a quick glance at him before returning her attention to the corridor. He did look alright, she concluded. He wasn't pale and there was no sweaty sheen to his skin. She'd keep half an eye on him anyway, but it appeared that a concussion wasn't going to be an issue.**

"**Thanks for taking the big ape down for me, before it managed to take off a limb or three," she said to him.**

"**Hey, fellow soldier and all that shit. It doesn't need thanking for."**

**While Alvarez advanced a few more feet down the corridor, eyes scanning the walls and ceiling, Mason shoved a Holy Communion wafer down the second victim's throat. When he had rejoined her, they moved cautiously down the rest of the corridor without any incident.**

**When they were a half-foot from the doorway in front of them, Mason placed a hand on her upper arm stopping her. Looking over at him, she watched him make a series of hand signs, telling her silently what his plan was.**

**When they reached the doorway, she watched his fingers as he counted to three. On the stroke of three, she rushed in and immediately crouched on the left of the doorway, while he mirrored her moves on the right side.**

**Once in the room, Jacqueline swept the central console station with her weapon, but it was clear, assuming that something wasn't crouched down behind it.**

**She brought her weapon back to her left to sweep her side of the room when she froze. Not a sound escaped her lips, and to her credit she didn't immediately vomit, but she also didn't move a muscle. She just stared in mounting horror at what awaited them.**

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**Mason swept from the central console as he stormed the room to the right. As he came down on one knee, his weapon followed his line of sight. First, his gun swept toward the banks of dials and blinking lights along the far right wall. Then up to the ceiling where air vents were located, and finally down toward the floor. Nothing moved and this side of the room was clear.**

**He glanced over at Alvarez to see if she had completed a visual sweep of the left side of the room and found her staring with her mouth wide open. She had significantly paled and there were tears moistening her cheeks. Glancing past her he saw what had placed her in such a state.**

**The demons had had their fun in this room. Hanging off of the floor, strung in the doorway between the engineering section they were in now and the environment monitoring section that opened off of engineering was strung a body by cabling. The body was dressed in the remains of a green jumpsuit, the standard uniform for the environmental monitoring personnel in the base. Mason hadn't had a lot of reason to come up here while in the Initiative, but he had had the opportunity to say hello to a few of the civilian contractors they had working here. He couldn't remember the woman's name, and most of her face was missing, but he could recognize her sweeping, strawberry blond hair. That hair was stained with blood and was hanging to her slim waistline.**

**Her waistline itself was missing. Or to be more accurate, the contents of that waist, her intestines, were looped around her on the floor. They trailed up her legs and into the abdominal cavity that had been ripped open to allow them to escape. The color of what remained of her face was completely white as all the blood had pooled around her and ran back into environmental monitoring. Environmental lay at a slight gradient to engineering and the blood naturally followed gravity.**

**Mason was positive he didn't want to enter the room that this cadaver was blocking entrance too. It was obvious that floor would be awash in gore.**

**The most horrible part of the tableau before him, however, was the contorted way her muscles had seized up in her death throes. She had managed to tangle herself up in the cable they had used to bind her and her limbs were splayed in every direction. It was clear she had been alive when the 'fun' had started.**

**Mason tore his gaze away to check on Alvarez. She looked calmly back at him, the shock having passed, but her eyes were still glazed with unshed tears she was holding back. She gave him a weak nod of acknowledgement and then started to duck-walk close to the floor toward the body and whatever horror was beyond.**

**Mason took a few seconds to admire the strength of this woman he was paired with, and then followed behind her. He knew their unit's future, the one that was formed as a part of the Initiative, was still in question. He knew that they may simply be split up and fielded out to be regular soldiers. But he also knew that if the unit remained in some form of special ops to fight the Sub-Ts, he was going to make sure that Specialist Jacqueline Alvarez was invited to join the new group. The woman had balls and with Riley probably staying on in Sunnydale, they'd need a replacement they could count on.**

**As she approached the body, Alvarez jumped up to her feet and brought the stock of her rifle up to her shoulder. Mason immediately followed suit, though he didn't know what exactly Alvarez was reacting to yet.**

**Circling around behind her to get a better look over her shoulder, he could see one of the most repulsive sights he'd seen yet in this house of horrors.**

**Before him were three vampires. All were dressed in Initiative clothing. Two were former scientists and one used to be an Initiative soldier, Jerry Cardwell. They were on their hands and knees, their faces pressed to the floor, lapping up the sticky and almost dry blood from the floor.**

"**Jesus H. Christ!" Mason yelled into the room. The vampires immediately leapt to their feet, a feral and hungry look in their eyes. Mason took a step back and began to circle to the right. Moving backward to what would lead to behind the engineer's console; he took up position to fight. He placed his rifle down on the console table and replaced it with the super-soaker of holy water he'd been issued. His peripheral vision caught Alvarez standing "in front" of the console across from him. She still had her rifle and was taking a shooting stance, aiming for the doorway.**

**A male scientist that Mason could barely recall having seen before was the first to barrel through the body in front of the doorway, ripping it and the cabling holding it up and letting both fall to the floor in a heap.**

**Mason let loose with the super-soaker, but the vampire dodged to its right launching itself at Alvarez. The female scientist directly behind the male did take a full load to the face and in a screaming blaze of steam, quickly fell away to ash.**

**When what-used-to-be-Jerry didn't also come out, Mason slowly approached the doorway. He looked over to his left to see Alvarez in hand to hand with the vampire scientist. He performed a quick mental calculation and decided that if he took the chance of turning to shoot the holy water at the vamp-scientist, it would give too large an opening to not-Jerry to fang him from behind. Making sure that Alvarez was holding her own; he turned his attention back to the doorway and approached more quickly to end the suspense.**

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**Alvarez had assumed a shooting stance with the rifle fitted squarely against her shoulder. Her legs were slightly parted and she was staring down the sight of the rifle. She knew just from the brief view she'd had of the vampire's eyes that they were hungry as hell. There was no way they weren't going to come rushing through that entranceway. A quick glance at Mason showed her that he'd replaced his rifle with the holy-water shooter they'd been issued.**

**Alvarez's own water pistol was a suddenly obtrusive weight tied to her back over her body armor. _You shoulda thought of that, dammit_, her inner voice told her. It was right too, she knew that her rifle wasn't going to be much good against this particular enemy. It was too late to fumble with a switch of weapons though, and she reminded herself to aim for their face. Not even a vampire was going to be in fighting shape if it didn't have eyes to see with.**

**When the first creature, a guy, came bursting through the strung up body she immediately squeezed the trigger of her gun. Unfortunately, the vampire was in the midst of a dodge from Mason's water stream and he had launched himself right at her.**

**Alvarez was slammed to the floor for the second time in the past half hour, but this time the opponent on top of her was far lighter. He also hadn't expected to collide with someone and he was a tangle of limbs trying to find his footing.**

**Jacqueline took full advantage of the fact to get a booted foot under the monster's chest and gave him a shove. As he went flying back against the wall abutting the entranceway it had tore through, she was already leaping up to her feet. She reached around behind her to pull the water-shooter, but the vamp recovered quicker than she'd anticipated. As she brought the gun around, it was kicked from her grasp and went flying up and behind her head to hit the floor there.**

**She could hear the gun slide along the floor for several feet before stopping. Her rifle, which she'd lost a grip on as she fell, was lying in the entranceway that her and Mason had come through to enter engineering. It was a good foot away from her and she figured it was a slim chance in hell that the vampire would patiently wait for her to retrieve either weapon. That left one choice: hand to hand. She regretted that she had only packed the one stake, a stake that was now ash with the vampire she'd used it on. As she assumed a combat position, she tried to gauge the weaknesses in her opponent.**

**The problem was, the briefing she'd been given didn't really cover a vampire's preferred fighting styles. She knew it was stronger than she was, and the way that it evaded Mason's water gun blast meant it was pretty quick. Was it supernaturally fast though? Could she have dodged the holy water too in its shoes? She didn't know.**

**_On the good side_, she thought, _I've been trained in hand to hand. This putz was an engineer. Unless it excelled in karate at the Y, I should be able to kick its ass._**

**The vampire made a few feints in her direction, but was obviously sizing her up as well. Alvarez knew that she needed to remember that whatever it was, it wasn't just a mindless animal. It could think, it could probably anticipate her moves if she telegraphed them too far in advance of her actions.**

**The seconds ticked by while she and the vamp danced around each other before Alvarez thought, _Fuck It. I'm going in!_**

**Launching herself at the beast with a cry of, she hoped, fury, she landed a few quick blows with her fists to its face before it began to block her. When it returned a professional-looking snap-kick to the side of her head, she knew she was in trouble.**

**What Specialist Alvarez couldn't know, what the army didn't know, was that vampires were 'born' with the innate sense of combat already established in the demon that took over their human hosts. Engineer Thomas Caine Heldago didn't need to know martial arts, because the nameless demon that infected him via his sire's blood feeding already did.**

**As the toe-steel boot of the engineer connected with the side of her head, Alvarez's combat training took over and allowed her to roll with the hit. She could already feel the knot starting to form where the boot connected, but she stayed conscious and on her feet.**

**As she spun to the side away from the vampire, she could almost physically feel it behind her going to reach for her. Quickly, without bothering to think about options, she reared her elbow up and back, spinning on the balls of her feet at the same time. The elbow connected solidly with a satisfying crunch and the vampire stumbled back screeching in pain.**

**Alvarez took the distraction to shake off the remaining effects of the blow to her head and resumed a kick boxer's stance in front of her opponent. The former-engineer glared at her, blood running down its face from the smashed nose it sported. It hissed at her, like some overgrown cat on two legs, and then launched itself at her again.**

**Alvarez brought her foot up into a round house kick that caught the vampire in the jaw and sent him flying across the room toward the banks of dials and flashing lights on the wall. It crashed heavily onto the floor and scant seconds later began thrashing about and screaming in agony. Before Jacquie could figure out what the hell was happening, the vampire burst into the now familiar ash-storm and was gone.**

**Alvarez took a step toward where the vamp had fallen and saw her holy-water shooter, now smashed, with a pool of water on the floor under it. The vampire's weight had crushed the water reservoir and doused the hellish thing with holy water. Jacquie turned her eyes heavenward and mouthed a silent "thank you" to whoever was looking after her and then ran toward the environmental monitoring room. As she reached it, she pulled up short, seeing Mason standing covered in blood. No sign of the third vampire showed.**

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**Mason practically ran to the doorway. Not seeing the vampire in front of him, he figured that it was waiting against the wall on one side of the doorway. Mason was faced with the prospect of standing there in a Mexican standoff, abandoning the entranceway and joining Alvarez in fighting off her opponent, or leaping through the doorway.**

**In less time then it took to think through his options he had already made his choice. He'd leap through the doorway, do a quick spin, and fire the water-gun at anything that moved. If it was human (fat chance!) it'd be wet, but no worse for wear, while if it was vampire, it would be crispy despite the wetness of the water.**

**Mason took a deep breath even as he was in mid-air through the doorway. Landing in the sticky, tacky blood covering the floor, he spun around but never got to fire the water gun. He, like Alvarez, was unfamiliar with the rapidity that vampires were capable of hand to hand combat. In addition, this vampire had the memories of the human it used to be assimilated into its own knowledge and it used to be a soldier itself.**

**The vampire, with its keener eyesight, had already taken note of Mason's leaped entrance, had anticipated his landing, had noted the holy-water gun in the human's grip, and moved with preternatural speed to meet the challenge.**

**By the time that Mason had spun around the vampire was on top of his position. With a quick wrenching movement, the gun was grasped from the human's grip and sent flying back out into engineering where it slid unnoticed under the console.**

**Used-to-be-Jerry then followed up with a head butt to Mason's face that had him gasping in pain. Mason could feel at least two teeth break off in his mouth and the vampire was still in control of the fight. It swung him around and off the floor before letting loose of its grip.**

**Mason flew into a far wall with a bone-rattling crash that had him grateful for the body armor he wore. Pushing against the wall to regain his feet, Mason launched himself at his foe using a flurry of punching motions.**

**The vampire easily blocked these, and returned with a raking motion of its fingers toward Mason's eyes, ready to claw them out. Mason followed the movement of the hooked fingers and before he consciously realized the vampire's goal, he'd already pulled his head back and to the side. The claws of the vampire raked across his right face and nose slicing cleanly into his skin and starting a flow of blood down his face.**

**Not-Jerry pushed his attack with a few kicks into Mason's abdomen, but these were largely absorbed by the body armor the soldier wore. This allowed Mason to shrug the blows off and concentrate on going on the offensive again.**

**Grabbing the vamp's leg on an attempted kick, Mason spun not-Jerry away from him. Taking two large strides toward the vampire, following him, he returned a kick of his own to the beast's back. The vampire was thrown forward, further off balance, where it bounced into another wall. This time when Mason approached, it lashed out with a back kick that caught him in the groin. Mason went down to the floor but even as he struggled to ignore the pain, he was rolling away from the vamp's follow up assault.**

**The vamp howled in rage as its attempt to stomp on Mason's neck with a heavy boot met only floor.**

"**Quit fighting the inevitable Mase…drag this out, and I'm just going to make you suffer more," the creature with Jerry's face yelled at him.**

"**Oh, please, Jerry. You were always such a lame-ass!" Mason taunted back.**

**Not-Jerry hissed at him and charged hitting Mason like a linebacker sacking a quarterback. Mason tried to roll with it, but his head hit a computer station and opened a wide gash in his forehead. Blood rushed into his left eye, sticky and thick, making it impossible to see anything out of it. Mason ignored it as best as he could, concentrating on faux-Jerry's hands which were snaking their way up to his throat.**

**The vampire was lying across Mason, pinning him to the floor, while its hands tightened on his throat. Mason didn't waste the strength grabbing the vampire's wrists. Instead he balled up his fists and hit the vampire in the head, each fist connecting solidly with the creature's ears. The vampire reacted exactly as Mason had been hoping, rearing up with a roar, and grabbing the sides of its head in pain.**

**Mason followed up with a double-fisted swing into the side of the vamp's face, knocking him off. As the vampire swung around on his knees to clutch at Mason, the soldier grabbed his boot knife and slashed the vampire in the throat. The sharp knife sliced through the thing's throat like butter and Mason was 'rewarded' with a torrent of blood-spray across his face and down his body.**

**He didn't know how quick the vampire would heal from the wound, or if it would be fatal. During his time at the Initiative he'd see demons come out of the scientist's experiments looking pretty beat up, but a few days later they were good as new.**

**Taking control of the battle and ready to end it now, he pushed the vamp onto the floor and straddled him across the waist. With his knife he stabbed and hacked at the thing's chest, feeling bits of bone break and fly over his hands. He did this for nearly a minute and then the heart was being cut to ribbons.**

**He didn't stop hacking until the vampire gave a jerk and then disintegrated under him.**

**Standing up, he remembered Alvarez and the engineer-vamp. He was just turning to rush toward the entranceway, when his teammate was there in the door staring back at him.**

"**Damn, but you look like complete mierda," she said to him.**

"**I'm going to pretend you just told me I look completely hot. Just go with it."**

**She laughed at him, but then her eyes grew serious again. "You look like your bleeding pretty good from your head."**

"**It's just a gash. Minor, but bleeds like a damn artery. We're done here. Let's finish the sweep of the three offices off of the walkway near the end of the catwalk and we'll call it a day."**

**Alvarez looked at him a bit doubtfully, "We should get you to the elevator entrance on main floor and get you up and out. You can't see out of your left eye and I know my anatomy; that cut on your head needs stitches."**

**Mason wiped the blood out of his face as well as he could and slapped a hand to put pressure on the still bleeding head wound. "We only got three offices, which will be empty, to check; then we're out of here. That's an order Specialist."**

"**Yes, sir," Alvarez returned, but there was a definite and purposeful sigh in her voice. Unspoken, but clear, was that she thought that was a really stupid way to go.**

**Rather than Mason being pissed though, he was glad in a funny way. He'd been right about her. When they were in the thick of things, she'd follow orders, but she wouldn't be an automaton. She'd make sure that they knew what her opinion was, even if she did have to swallow the acerbic remark no doubt dancing on the tip of her tongue.**

**Mason retrieved both his rifle and the water-shooter. Alvarez stooped to grab her rifle from the floor, at the same time pointing out the remains of her own water-blaster. They exited back down the corridor leading to engineering, and then explored the rest of the catwalk. At the end were three "offices", to be generous. They were more like cubicles and barely had room for a small desk, a chair, and one person. As Mason had predicted, there was no other activity.**

**When Mason and Alvarez returned to the main staging area outside of the elevator, he had her report their condition. As he began the ascent, Alvarez reported their kill ratios and he heard Riley acknowledge her report. He felt the tug on the cable when she started climbing up after him.**

**END CH. THREE**


	4. The Infirmary

**Spanderverse: After 314**

**Ch. 4 - The Infirmary**

_Note: Naughty language ahead. Read responsibly._

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**Graham led Specialists Tucker Griswold, Barney Franklin and Davey Gibbs through a door with a large blue plaque on the wall next to it: 'Medical Wing' it stated. Actually, 'wing' was overstating it as it was hardly more than an emergency clinic designed to stabilize until an evac could be initiated. It did have plenty of pain pills though, as well as some antibiotics (useless to demons, he'd assumed) and more importantly for this mission, a small blood bank. If there was anywhere in this part of the Initiative for vampires to be, that would be it.**

**Graham led the way inside, having the rest follow him in single file. They first entered a hallway in antiseptic white… wall, floor tiles, doors… all of it white. The overhead fluorescents were only partially functional making the hallway feel more claustrophobic than it would normally.**

**Above his head was the angry buzzing of the lights that weren't currently working. The occasional flickering was grating at his taut nerves. It was a short hallway leading to a door which was partially ajar. Graham whispered back to the men behind him, having them separate themselves a little bit from each other. Readying his weapon, he crept forward.**

**Using the muzzle of his automatic rifle, he pushed the door inward to find a mess. The room had been torn apart, like rioters after their sports team loses. Plastic bottles were strewn around the entire room. Pills were all over the floor, spilled on shelves and flung from one corner to another.**

**He and his men entered quickly, but quietly as they could. There were tablets breaking under their boots with each footfall. The room was relatively large, allowing them all to spread out in the room. Everything remained still… the room otherwise empty. As Graham idly looked over the shelves at the vandalism, Franklin moved to the door on the other side of the room. According to the quick briefing Graham had given them on their way across the expansive staging area they'd cross through, beyond was a hallway with half a dozen exam rooms waiting for them. The door had a small, thick paned window sitting at head height. Taking a quick look, he saw a woman lying on the floor. _"Nurse, by the look," _he thought to himself. He studied her from his position, but didn't notice any gross injuries.**

**Behind and to his right he heard Gibbs. "Funny," Gibbs said, "Someone's a comedian. Not a very good one though."**

**As everyone directed their attention to the right of the room, Gibbs was looking up at a wall. They must have had to climb a shelving unit to get so high. Up near the ceiling, written in blood, was: "People are neat, they make such a treat". It was a reddish-brown color and there were flakes missing from here and there, but the message was clear.**

**Griswold said to the room, "Please tell me we're going to kill these fuckers." Graham gave the affirmative, then ushered them back toward the next door, arranging them again into single file.**

**Taking a quick look through the window, he also saw the nurse. Her name had been Mandy Jenkins. She'd been sweet on Graham and he engaged in some harmless flirting. He didn't want to encourage her too much, but he couldn't break the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy to let her know she was barking up the wrong tree. He remembered how sweet her laugh had been and felt a little pang of sadness. **

**_Of course, there are plenty of things to feel sad about in here. Not least of which is Forrest. _Graham had been a little put out that Riley had sent him to medical instead of where the 314 Labs, and therefore, Forrest's remains were. He felt that, as friends, Riley and he should be the ones to investigate that area and to mark the remains for the retrieval team. He knew Riley was just trying to spare his feelings, but he always wondered during situations like this if it was because Riley and he were friends, or if it was some subtle homophobic thing.**

**Graham put his mind back on his current task and tried the door handle. It opened easily enough and allowed him through. He took a few moments to whisper back to his team, "Griswold, exam 1. Gibbs; exam 2. I'll take 3 and Franklin… your number four."**

**Someone, possibly Franklin, he wasn't used to their voices yet whispered back regarding the nurse. "In a minute. I don't want us getting jumped while our attention is divided." And then they were moving forward. He heard two exam doors opening behind him; then quickly shutting.**

**He took a look into exam three to see it was empty. Pulling his head out and shutting the door, he looked to his left to see Franklin moving deeper into his assigned room. As he moved to join the Specialist, he gave a new set of orders to Gibbs and Griswold.**

**"You two, check Mandy… I mean, check the nurse. Then, proceed on her other side and check rooms five and six." He heard their 'yes, sirs' but was already moving into exam room four.**

**Inside he found Franklin looking for a pulse at the carotid of Dr. Danielson, the on-site medico. Franklin turned back to Graham and gave a quick shake of the head. Graham had figured as much and was already handing a wafer over to him. "Holy wafer," he explained, "place it down his throat. If he's been turned, he'll go poof when he wakes up." Graham then turned around and started his way down toward Mandy.**

**On the other side of her were standing Gibbs and Griswold. It was Tucker who replied to his unasked question, "Nothing in the rooms. She's history." As Graham knelt down to do the wafer thing, he nodded his head toward the end of the hallway. The two soldiers turned and moved up the hall, being joined a few seconds later by Franklin, returning from his task. As they reached the second set of doors, Gibbs opened it and went through. The others followed as Graham quick-stepped to catch up to them.**

**On the other side of the door, Graham saw only Franklin standing waiting for him. "Gibbs is in X-Ray, Griswold's looking in Microscopy." **

**"Ok. You want Blood Gasses or the Hard Drugs room?"**

**"Oh, I guess I'll do the hard drugs. Not literally, of course," he added dryly.**

**"Of course," Graham smiled back.**

**As Graham headed into the Blood Gasses lab, he could hear Franklin swearing under his breath. Then there came the sounds of a heavy boot kicking the 'Secured Medications' door, which was of course, locked.**

**It was only a minute or so later that Graham re-entered the hallway to join the two G's waiting for Franklin. Franklin himself could be heard grunting and dragging something from inside the room. Graham was about to call inside to see if he needed help, when Franklin appeared in the doorway. Behind him, being dragged by a leg was a vampire. The bony ridges and fangs were clearly visible, but it was obvious the creature was deeply unconscious. **

**"Looky what I found dad. Can I keep him? Can I… Can I?" Franklin said in an excited little-boy voice.**

**"What the hell?" asked Graham. **

**"Looks like somebody was greedy with the morphine."**

**Graham snorted in amusement, but then a thought occurred to him. "Hey, how'd he get in with the door locked?"**

**"Oh, that. Turned out it wasn't locked, so much as blocked," replied Franklin in his laconic manner, "Apparently, he wasn't in the mood to share with the other kids," Franklin glanced down at the unconscious, apparently drugged beast, "Bogart-er."**

**The men had a quick laugh, but Graham sobered up again. Now he was presented with a small dilemma. They could leave the thing here for pick up later or drag its stupid ass all the way back to the elevator and haul it to the surface. Of course, they could also just kill the bastard now and be done with it. He had no doubt Riley's girl would just use her 'pointy stick' as Walsh referred to it and ash it now. However, he also felt that bringing a subject back for further study might look good to the folks in D.C. Maybe it would help to sway them in favor of keeping their unit in the demon fighting and/or collecting gig.**

**_Nah,_ he thought, _dust the fucker._ With that he pulled a simple stake from his boot and plunged it into the thing's chest. It turned to ash in front of everyone, all of them but Graham showing amazement on their features. "And that, gentleman, is how you fight the Sub-T menace."**

**"Wow! That was so cool!" shouted Gibbs.**

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**End Ch 4**


	5. The Cleanup

**Xanderverse: After 314**

**Ch. 5 – The Cleanup**

_Naughty language – read responsibly._

POV: Mostly Riley Finn.

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**Riley entered the Initiative control room to see the top of Destuvic's head peeping above a console. His two fists resting on the console's top, gripping a pistol and pointed in his general direction. Upon seeing him, Destuvic lowered the gun and stood up. From a console to Desty's right, Brubacker rose, also armed with a pistol which now rested at this thigh.**

"**Hey Desty. Randy. You guys ready to get outta here?" Riley asked the room.**

**It was Brubacker who answered, a very slight contempt in his voice. "What are you doin' here Finn? I thought you'd be off boffing your girl somewhere."**

**Riley allowed a frustrated sigh to leave his lips. He knew it wouldn't be easy to re-enter this place, see the men that he'd 'betrayed' by becoming an 'anarchist', but he was already tired of this mission. Truth was, yeah, he did want to be back with Buffy. Maybe not having sex, but just holding her close to him and allowing her warmth to chase away his own doubts that leaving the military was the right thing for himself.**

"**I don't really have time for your shit Brubacker. We're collecting whoever is still alive down here before the Powers That Be in Washington figure out how their going to bury this place. I'm betting cement, but I'd rather not be here fucking around with your pissy attitude when they start."**

**Both Randy Brubacker and Caine Destuvic had shock written on both their faces. They'd never heard Riley talk like that before. He wasn't one to swear lightly, and neither of them could've ever pictured him using the f-bomb.**

**Destuvic was about to bring up their standing orders that Riley was under arrest, but he was cut off. Apparently Finn wasn't done yet.**

"**And, in case that blow to your face," Brubacker was sporting a huge swollen bruise where Buffy had bashed him with the butt of a rifle during the Scooby's break-out, "has affected your eyesight, I'm wearing Lieutenant Colonel's leaves now. That pretty much means I'm ordering you to shut your mouths and follow us back out."**

**With that Riley turned and pushed back through the soldiers he had led into the room. They'd all immediately sensed the tension in the room, but they were ignorant as to what had happened between Riley and the Initiative, other than that he'd been posted here when things turned to shit.**

**As the soldiers followed, Riley yelled back to see if anyone had been locked up since he and Oz made their exit from the detention cells. He didn't expect there to be anyone back there and didn't want to waste time looking. His assumptions were confirmed by Destuvic, so Riley continued to cross the wide expanse toward the elevator shaft. Nearing the central operating theatre, the soldiers heard a frantic call for assistance from Kirk reporting multiple hostiles. **

**Riley took off at a dead run, not bothering to check to see if his men were behind him, though it was obvious they were. The sound of heavy boots on cement flooring was thunderous and they made a beeline toward the 314 Lab door standing ajar.**

**As Riley's team approached the lab doorway, including the two soldiers from Operations, Graham's team burst out of the medical 'wing' also at a dead run.**

"**Did you finish your sweep?" Riley yelled as he entered the 314 doorway. Behind him, his soldiers slowed to allow Graham ahead of them; then quickly inserted themselves in front of his team. They'd show deference to Graham since Riley needed to consult with him, but they sure as hell weren't going to be left at the back of the line for anyone else.**

"**We missed the blood bank! We gotta figure there's a good chance at a nest back there."**

"**Go back to it when we're done here. Don't leave anything alive! I want to see nuthin' moving but us when we come out of here!" Riley yelled.**

"**You know that's right!" Graham confirmed.**

**Riley and the soldiers passed first down a well-lit hallway, coming to a formerly secured doorway which had been blown open. How, Riley didn't know, as they didn't have explosives on them. The demons must have found a few grenades on some of the soldiers they'd killed. There wasn't an abundance of such ordinance in the Initiative, but some soldiers were granted access to them from the armory.**

**Passing through that doorway led to another antiseptic white room. This one's most obvious feature was two operating tables. Their stainless steel gleamed in the harsh fluorescents from the ceiling. The room had a heavy smell of disinfectant. The sounds of fighting were louder, and Riley led the soldiers through a doorway into a short hallway on his right.**

**They entered yet another room with a large and shaggy Quon-Shoth demon blocking the doorway. Its corpse was lying on the floor with its head at an odd angle. The room beyond, as Riley led his team over its body, was smaller than the rooms they'd passed through so far. It was apparently another storage room. This one seemed to be for the scientist's use, as there were large containers of mysterious colored liquids on a rack against the wall. Riley ignored these as he followed the sound of fighting through a brightly lit, but empty hallway. It was completely white and made the guy's eyes water as they followed it to another room.**

**This room was one that Riley was intimately associated with. Across the room and on the right from where he now entered was the extensive cave system that the Initiative was built into. That opening was how Riley had gotten here the first time. Adam had somehow remotely activated Riley's chip, and guided him like a homing beacon to this room. Once Riley had arrived, he'd been temporarily powerless to do anything except what Adam had told him to do. **

**The room that he'd been held captive in was a little worse for wear. Gurnee were overturned, blood and body parts littered the floor and there were already a few soldiers' bodies lying, unmoving on the concrete. One of them was Kirk, whose head had been completely twisted into a 180-position. As Riley slid on the bits of flesh and gore on the floor, he pushed away all thoughts of the last time he fought in this room. Forrest tried to whisper recriminations in his head, but he slammed those thoughts away and dived into the melee going on in front of him.**

**It was apparent that the vampires had decided to set up a nest in this room. Displayed all around him were soldiers and vampires fighting in mostly hand to hand combat, weapons lying on the floor waiting to trip the unwary. There was loud shouting, hissing, and the painful sounds of bodies; both dead and undead, being punched, kicked, slapped, and thrown about the room. Riley himself was already engaged in hand to hand with two vampires, both of which he dispatched with the large machete he carried. Its sixteen inch blade decapitated both of his foes even as he took a quick glance around the room to check the status of the soldiers fighting with him.**

**Riley felt an involuntary shiver and the wound in his chest from where he pulled out his own behavioral chip itched and burned. This was the room where Adam was making his big plans for the domination and transformation of humanity. The cybernetic zombie had wanted to include Riley as a cyber-demonoid as well. Riley's gaze went to the far right of the room involuntarily. There laying on the ground and showing obvious trampling damage, were the bodies of Dr. Angleman and Dr. Walsh. Adam had killed them both and then 'reanimated' them into mindless worker bees in his dungeon of horror. Around the room lay other bodies, some of them soldiers. There were also several demons among the dead, but the only ones left fighting now were all blood-suckers.**

**That immediately brought Forrest back into his mind fully. His friend and comrade had also been killed by Adam. But, maybe because he'd been an Initiative soldier too, Forrest had avoided Maggie's fate by becoming more like Adam himself. A hodge-podge menace made of the parts of his body, combined with a demon's arm and part of its head. Demon-Forrest had attempted to kill Buffy, and when Riley had finally fought free of his conditioning chip, had tried to beat the hell out of Riley himself. Riley had been forced to kill Forrest for the second and last time. A decision that carried its own guilt; even though it didn't make any sense. The thing that Riley had blown apart wasn't his friend, but a sick perversion of him. **

**Riley's reverie was cut short when he was suddenly, and painfully, tackled to the floor. The thing on top of him was fully 'morphed' into the monster. Its eyes were a glaring yellow which almost seemed to be glowing with malevolence. Its hard fingernails were digging into his upper arms, breaking the skin easily. The creature's breath smelled coppery, the smell of fresh blood, Riley realized. The thing straddled Riley's body like a demented lover, straining its head forward, full of fangs, trying to reach his throat. **

**Riley was struggling to get clear of the thing when it suddenly jerked up, its eyes comically large and round. It seized once and then turned to ash without a sound uttered from its savage mouth. Above Riley stood Graham, a makeshift stake in his hand and his eyes scanning for the next target.**

**"Quit daydreaming Finn! You did the only thing for Forrest you could, time to let it go and focus on the here and now!" And with that, Graham was leaping back into the fray with a former Initiative comrade-in-arms, now deadly enemy.**

**Riley rolled onto his feet and immediately snap-kicked a civilian-vampire that stumbled to close to him. _Of course Graham would know exactly what I'd been brooding on, _Riley thought. They were as close as brothers and if Graham had ever considered more with him, he'd never pushed the subject. Graham was grieving for Forrest too, but he wasn't letting himself get bogged down in it. _It was a damn good thing Graham was here. The whole Forrest thing is really screwing my head._**

**And so the battle went. Riley tried to keep track of the number of his men and the number of vampires, but it was a losing battle. The field of engagement was shifting faster than anyone could be expected to keep up with. It was chaos; the anarchy that McNamara had so feared was a reality in this one large room.**

**Riley had the remaining vampire nest at approximately twenty, while he figured his own men were down to twelve or so. Kirk's face flashed in his mind, but he'd allowed himself to get distracted once already and there was no guarantee that Graham would be there to save his rear again. It was just another funeral he'd be attending after this was over. Riley took a quick glance around the room before he approached a new opponent. Seeing Graham and Banks double-teaming a vampire who definitely looked the worse for wear made him release a relieved breath. Graham was the closest Riley had to a best friend, not including Buffy, of course. He didn't want to lose the man.**

**"Hey Colonel!" Riley heard from behind him, even as he got bumped by a large block of muscle behind him. "Maybe a bit of help here," he heard Washington's deep baritone.**

**Riley spun around to see another vamped Initiative soldier, this one used to be a corporal named Jenkins, easily countering Washington's best delivered blows. Taking another breath, and pasting a smile on his face, he told Washington, "Always happy to be of service," and then launched himself into another fight to the death.**

**It was a savage twenty minutes later in which no mercy was asked for or given when the fight seemed to go out of the vampire gang. They'd been reduced to approximately seven while Riley's men had remained a slightly-worse-for-wear twelve. As one, the vampires suddenly took to the flight portion of the fight-or-flight instinct. **

**The sudden turn in the conflict was like an elixir to the men under Riley's command. There were suddenly whoops and hollering. They took off after the retreating vampires, wanting to exterminate every last one of them. Riley felt the opposite reaction, now that the battle seemed over, he was bone weary. He took a look around the floor, searching out familiar faces of the soldiers who lay unmoving. _We'll need to check for vitals, and bite marks on the dead._**

**Graham jogged over to him at that moment. "Finn, have you seen McNamara?"**

**"The Colonel? He's alive?"**

**"No, but he sure as hell was fighting in here a minute ago. On the far side of the room; over that way." Graham was shifting his gaze over to where a doorway was set into the wall. You couldn't see it from where Graham and he stood. Riley knew it was there because that was the way Buffy had taken off when she'd gone after Adam for the final showdown.**

**"There's a doorway over there," shared Riley, "he may be taking off!"**

**"Then let's get going!" Graham yelled excitedly. As he was making ready to dash off, Riley grabbed his arm.**

**"Listen, Graham. I need to take this one on my own. Catch up after the guys, grab a few and return to the blood bank."**

**"Riley, look man, that doesn't sound like such a good idea."**

**"It's not. It's just something I need. McNamara and I have unfinished business as is, if he's going to be a vamp, I want to be the one doing the dusting."**

**Graham had doubt in his eyes, but he simply gave Riley a quick squeeze on his shoulder, then ran off toward the exit leading back into the Initiative proper.**

**Riley took off for the exit leading to wherever Adam had holed up. He was looking forward to pounding on McNamara's stubborn, opinionated, insulting ass. _Right before I decapitate the bastard. Who knew I had such a dark streak?_**

**Riley entered another room, this one littered with the remains of the computer consoles standing with gaping holes in them. In a far wall was a ragged entrance. It looked like it led to more of the natural cave system that honeycombed below Sunnydale and its environs. In front of this entrance stood McNamara giving orders, apparently to vampires beyond.**

**_Well, that figures_, thought Riley Finn, _if anyone would take over leadership of a nest of undead, it would be him._**

**"Going somewhere, oh fearless leader?" Riley called across the room.**

**"Finn," the thing with McNamara's body hissed back. "Well, well. The prodigal son returns. Y'know, McNamara wanted to court martial your traitor-ass, but I'm thinking imposing the death penalty sounds a lot more like justice."**

**"Then bring it on, old man."**

**And with that, Riley went into a dead run at his former commander. McNamara met him halfway in a run of his own, but Riley grabbed the thing's arm and heaved him into a shoulder flip. Thrown to the floor, McNamara-thing did a nicely executed flip into a standing position, pivoting on its heels to face Riley again.**

**The two men circled each other, both wearing identical visages of loathing and anger. Riley performed several faints at the vampire's head, but McNamara didn't even blink. He just stayed beyond Riley's immediate reach, wearing a look of superiority that was really pissing Finn off.**

**With the next feint, Riley took a step forward, closing the distance to within striking range. His fist caught McNamara in the face, but not with as much power as Riley had hoped. Still, the vampire's lip split nicely. McNamara-thing grimaced at him, "First blood to you soldier-boy, nice shot."**

**McNamara immediately followed up with a few quick jabs to Riley's abdomen, which his body armor took. Riley placed an upper cut to the vampire's jaw, but quick reaction from it made the blow only glancing. As he shrugged off that hit, McNamara took two steps back, placing distance between his opponent and himself again.**

**"You're looking a little winded. Maybe you should take a small break," smiled the vampire. Or, at least, it tried. With its distended features, it came across as more of a grimace. "I can wait a few minutes if you want?" said McNamara in as friendly a tone as he could manage.**

**Bells started to go off in Riley's mind then. This vampire was being far too solicitous and it was almost as if it was reluctant to engage in combat. Like it… _damn it! Like it was trying to delay me here!_ Riley quickly swept his eyes around the room, failing to see the one thing that should be most apparent in a room this small. The body of a lumbering Frankensteinian cyborg was very much not in evidence.**

**"Shit! Where's Adam at?" Yelled Riley at the thing.**

**For its part, the vampire was smirking in that way that made Riley want to stake Hostile 17 every time he saw him. "Finally caught on, huh? Jesus Christ, but your one thick slab!"**

**"The vampires you were yelling at, they got him. Where'd they take him, McNamara!"**

**"Now that would be spoiling the surprise waiting for the Slayer, Finn." The vampire chuckled to itself coldly. "Adam can be re-made, better than he was but far more obedient. With his help not only will I be ruling the Hellmouth, but I'll slay the Slayer. By the time I'm done, I'll have vampires begging me to include them in my new order. This town will be mine Finn. Unfortunately for you, you're not invited. You can take some small comfort in the fact that your death is about to be quick and permanent."**

**Riley shrugged off this threat, it wasn't like he hadn't been threatened with similar from vampires before. His mind, though, was racing. Somewhere behind him Adam's corpse was being manhandled to who knew where while he was wasting time with this numb-nut. He had to finish this right now, and get after the others. He had to satisfy his curiosity though.**

**"How the hell do you know about Adam now, when McNamara didn't when he arrived?"**

**"Eh, I just used his passcode to look up Dr. Walsh's journals. She was a very meticulous record-keeper, that one. The whole scientist thing, I suppose. Anyway, it was very enlightening. I'll have to make sure to give her a little credit. Re-name a cemetery or something after her when I've taken over."**

**"Of course," the vampire continued, "your now planning on playing the hero… again…and completely ruining that. Time to finish this, Finn." **

**With that the vampire literally launched himself into the air. The flying drop kick caught Riley square in the chest, knocking him to the floor. Even with the body armor, Riley found himself winded and with no time to recover. **

**He quickly went into a roll to get to his feet, but McNamara had already gotten behind him. He felt the man's arms wrap around his head in a choke hold. The pressure on his throat was unrelenting and crushing. Riley could see stars in his vision, the edges of his sight becoming gray. Reaching behind him, he felt for the vampire's face. Grabbing its lip, he yanked as hard as he could. **

**McNamara reacted by loosening his grip and bellowing. Although his arms were still in their original position, Riley was able to draw a breath. McNamara then re-applied his grip, beginning to twist Riley's head, trying to snap his neck.**

**"You fuckin' sissy!" it snarled, "C'mon Finn, take it like a soldier."**

**Finn placed all of his strength into getting to his feet. His calves and thighs strained against the weight bearing down at his back. He fought to hold his head still, the muscles not strong enough to stop the relentless twisting, screamed in protest and they were being forced to turn his head far too far to the left. McNamara's hand had shifted in the last few moments to Riley's chin, giving it the leverage it needed to snap his neck and Riley was seeing Buffy's face, tear streaked with grief passing before his eyes.**

**Carefully gauging his opponent's position, he performed a quick jab at its eyes, connecting with two fingers to the right orbit. McNamara screamed in pain, and fell away before he could jerk Riley's head out of its natural place. Riley followed McNamara back into a wall, pushing and digging at the orbit until he felt McNamara's eye pop messily from its socket. **

**McNamara howled in agony and scrambled to get away on his hands and knees. He made for the exit that his apparent minions had used. Riley quickly grabbed his large machete that he'd lost on the floor and neatly decapitated the demon where it crawled. He felt little satisfaction in the killing though, which surprised him. **

**He then took off for the entrance to the cave system. Retrieving and destroying Adam's remains just became his new priority.**

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**End Ch. 5**

** A shout-out to Liz Kingsley of "And You Call Yourself A Scientist!" A B-Movie review website amusingly pointing out that you know movie science is a-brewing by the lab scene which invariably contains 'conical flasks filled with mysterious colored liquids". These liquids nearly never are actually used by any scientist for anything in the scene. They just sit there, apparently left to evaporate.**


	6. Endings or Beginnings

**Spanderverse: After 314**

**Ch 6- Endings or Beginnings**

POV: Riley Finn, civilian.

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**Riley Finn stood in front of Buffy's front door, ready to usher in his new life as a civilian. He felt strange… somehow incomplete now that he wasn't wearing fatigues and holding a rank. He knew there was going to be a rough adjustment period ahead of him. Getting back in the habit of sleeping in, of not marching anywhere, and not ordering or being ordered was going to take some time. He wanted to believe that he'd made the right choice, the only choice. Buffy Summers was his world now. He wanted to be there, fighting the good fight at her side. He could see a real future with her and he didn't want that to slip away while he went globe trotting.**

**The former Initiative soldiers, of which, only Mason and Graham now existed were re-assigned as a tactical M.b.O.T team. Washington decided that Mason and Graham should remain on the same team and they had also accepted the recommendation that Specialist Jacqueline Alvarez be recruited into the same unit. Riley suspected that Mason might have more than a strictly professional interest in Jacquie, as she'd insisted he call her. The Meta-black Ops Teams had a far less strict policy about fraternization, considering how little time any of them would spend anywhere but with each other. He was twelve years her senior though, and he hoped Mase wasn't setting himself up for disappointment. **

**Riley had been offered the chance to command the new unit, whose first task was to fly to Australia for some sort of demon preying on the Aboriginal peoples. Riley had politely and professionally turned down the offer. He tendered his resignation, which the people in Washington weren't happy about, but they accepted it. With the understanding that he was, of course, bound by the usual non-disclosure clauses. Riley had impressed upon them how important it was that the Hellmouth have a guardian. He'd been worried about what the government was going to do about the Slayer and her companions. He needn't have worried; the folks in the Pentagon were as impressed with the young woman as Riley himself was. They had made it clear to him that as long as Buffy Summers, Rupert Giles, Alexander Harris and Willow Rosenburg kept what they knew to themselves, the government would stay at arm's length from Sunnydale, California.**

**Riley had also made a push to have Graham promoted to his slot as the lead. Although the Pentagon valued his contributions, and promoted him to Captain, Graham was going to be second under a new colonel. **

**The post mission analysis and debriefing was handled in a rapid and smooth way. The decision was made to arrange a fire in what was left of the Initiative to burn away all of the evidence. The military was currently arranging to fly in napalm and smuggling explosives through the cave systems. As far as the city of Sunnydale was concerned, there were major underground methane gas leaks that had been detected beneath the local college. Accordingly, there would be government officials in and out, keeping a close eye on the situation. They'd decided to allow the students back into the dorm, saying there was no danger, after they had permanently sealed the elevator leading to the lab complex below.**

**Being Sunnydale, no one questioned this story.**

**Riley had made his good-byes to Mason and Graham. Graham had actually helped Riley pack up his things in the dorm they had used, till recent events, as a hide out. While Buffy was going back to school in the fall, Riley wasn't. His attending classes were part of his cover and since that wasn't necessary anymore; the government wasn't going to pay for his continued education. Riley didn't actually mind that, although what exactly he was going to do with his life once his pension ran out was another worry for another day. The government was willing to extend his pay for another twenty weeks, as they had put it, 'call it a cooling off period.' They still wanted him back and they were hopeful that after a short leave of absence, he'd come to his senses. Graham had taken a few half-hearted stabs at pointing out how often he would be able to get back to visit with Buffy, even if he stayed with the team. They both knew it was hopeless, but Riley pretended to consider it anyway. On his way out of the dorm room, Graham had suddenly grabbed him in a big hug and told him he'd miss him. It was all done in a very manly way, of course. **

**The bodies left behind when the team had pulled out, would be left in place. The chaplain had already been as close to the Initiative proper as the brass would allow to say a few non-denominational prayers. The families were being told that during routine training missions in the caves a minor earth tremor had dislodged rocks causing a major collapse. The bodies of their loved ones weren't able to be recovered. Because none of the parents lived near Sunnydale, California, their sons would be treated to a full military funeral and they'd be generously compensated for their loss, hopefully forestalling any desires by those families to ask any questions. As for the civilian contractors and the science personnel, those records were being altered. As far as anyone would know, they were on their way by military jet to an undisclosed location when it crashed, killing all aboard. That jet was being prepared right now for its fatal swan-dive into the deepest part of the Pacific. Loaded with tons of cement, it would sink to an unreachable depth in minutes, making any sort of Coast Guard search for survivors futile.**

**As for the Blood Bank, it did indeed contain a vampire nest. A far smaller one though, apparently the four barricaded themselves in the room and refused to share. According to Graham, by the time the unit could bust its way into the room, the vampires were so bloated they could barely rouse themselves to fight. It was all over very quickly with no muss, no fuss, and no injuries.**

**Riley had wandered the cave system for a few hours before he wound up exiting near Rugg's Field. He never found any sign of the vampires once they'd left the dirt covered floor of the cave and began trekking over hard rock. Adam's remains were never found either and Riley wasn't looking forward to telling Buffy that he was still out there, just waiting to be powered up again. The only consolation is that it had taken a uranium core to power him up before, and those weren't exactly at the local Home Depot.**

**Riley had called Forrest's and Kirk's families to break the news to them himself. He let them know that official military would be arriving soon to go over the details of their hero's burials. He listened to them as they cried on the other end of the line and gave heartfelt apologies for their losses. Finally he told each family he'd see them in person at the memorials. It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, but he felt it was necessary. He owed it to his friend's families not to hear it from a group of strangers. It helped that he'd met both families numerous times, even spending a few days sleeping over at Forrest's right after basic training, while waiting to ship out on their first assignment.**

**So, now Riley was standing before the door of the girl whose dreams he wanted to make come true. He'd have to get an apartment, and he wanted to have Buffy help him choose a place. If things went really well, on their first anniversary, he would ask Buffy to leave her mother's home and move in with him. He might even ask her to marry him, if she'd even consider such a proposal with their current lifestyle. Sometimes, it seemed to him, Buffy seemed to shy away from doing normal life-type things. She always seemed to be obsessing over her role as guardian of the Hellmouth. But, maybe Riley would be the one to get her to look past the doom and gloom of her role and fully engage in life again.**

**That thought made him grin widely, and he knocked on the door with confidence. Buffy and he were going to be so happy together. He'd make sure no opportunity passed by that would allow him to convince her that there was more to her than being a Slayer.**

**When Buffy opened the door and broke into a huge grin, he grabbed her in his arms and kissed her to take her breath away.**

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**End Story**


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